Monday, June 6, 2016

Milestones: Four Prominent Hams Become Silent Keys


The amateur radio community lost four well-known members in May. Hollywood producer Dave Bell, W6AQ, who also produced several amateur radio promotional videos in the 1970s and '80s, passed away on May 14. He was a member of the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame and was Dayton's Ham of the Year in 1984, according to the ARRL Letter. Dave was 84.

SATERN founder Maj. Pat McPherson, WW9E, is one of four
well-known hams who became Silent Keys in May.
(Photo courtesy satern.org)
Pat McPherson, WW9E, became a Silent Key on May 13 at age 70. A Major in the Salvation Army, Pat founded SATERN – the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network – in 1988 and served as its coordinator for more than 25 years, overseeing its growth into an international organization with several thousand members worldwide.

John Brosnahan, W0UN, passed away on May 4 at age 71 after suffering an apparent stroke. He was best-known as president of Alpha Power but was also a research physicist who worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), according to the ARRL Letter, and was instrumental in designing and building the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility in Alaska. 

Former Communications Quarterly columnist, CQ contributor and educator Pete Kemp, KZ1Z, also became a Silent Key in May. He was 67. Kemp was a high school teacher directly responsible for licensing over 700 hams and was very active in the ARRL Field Organization in Connecticut and Florida.